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Updated: Oct 9, 2025

Evaluation of Caspase Activation to Assess Innate Immune Cell Death
Published on: January 20, 2023
TALE-induced cell death executors: an origin outside immunity?
Moritz K Nowack1, Danalyn R Holmes2, Thomas Lahaye2
1Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium; VIB Center of Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium.
Plant resistance genes recognize bacterial effectors like TALEs. New findings suggest executor-type R genes may regulate programmed cell death, not immunity, challenging current plant defense models.
Area of Science:
- Plant pathology
- Molecular plant-microbe interactions
- Genetics
Background:
- Phytopathogenic bacteria deliver effector proteins into plant cells to cause disease.
- Plant resistance (R) genes, including nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) proteins, detect diverse microbial effectors like transcription-activator like effectors (TALEs).
- TALEs modulate plant gene expression by binding promoters, activating susceptibility (S) genes or executor-type R genes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the perplexing presence of TALE-recognizing executor-type R genes alongside NLRs in plant immunity.
- To explore the evolutionary trajectory of TALEs and their potential roles beyond plant defense.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of TALE evolvability.
- Comparative genomics and functional assays (details not provided in abstract).
Main Results:
- Recent findings highlight the evolvability of TALEs.
- Evidence suggests executor-type R genes' native function might be in regulating developmentally controlled programmed cell death (PCD).
Conclusions:
- The role of executor-type R genes in plant immunity against TALE-producing bacteria is questioned.
- These genes may have evolved for intrinsic plant developmental processes, such as PCD, rather than solely for pathogen defense.
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